Juvenile crimes can include anything from scrawling graffiti on a building to rape or even murder. No matter what the offense, a youth caught committing a crime will most likely be punished according to Shariah rules. Apart from being jailed in a house of correction, there are alternative penalties for juveniles, such as, community service, which some people feel is more effective in rehabilitating the young person and making him a responsible member of society. In discussing the effectiveness of community service as opposed to other penalties, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Othaim, Chief of the District Court in Jeddah, recalled an experience that he had 15 years ago which proved to him that community service is more effective than jail in correcting behavior. “Fifteen years ago,” he said, “I tried a man who had a criminal record of more than 30 crimes. After reading his record, I said to myself, if the years that this man has spent in prison did not rehabilitate him, then let me try another method. Therefore, I ordered him to join some people who were serving the community. After two months of community service, he had become a different person. He had completely changed.” Several researchers and lawmakers believe that the objective behind trying a juvenile is to discipline and reform him, and that it is not about society revenging itself upon the young person. Therefore, the idea of alternative penalties needs to be considered especially, for those who have not been involved in felonies. Dr. Ali Bin Zain Al-Hanaki, who supports alternative penalties, said the first thing that springs to the judge's mind when a juvenile is brought before him is how to put him back on the right path and make him a good member of society. Alternatives to jail Over 98 percent of judges support alternative penalties for juvenile offenders; but this does not mean they are in favor of total abolishment of jail or of being lenient with delinquents. Rather they are trying to find a way to achieve the intentions and objectives of the Islamic Shariah. Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Jafari, a judge at the General Court in Ras Tanura Governorate, said Almighty Allah decreed penalties to deter criminals pointing out that these penalties are applicable to a certain number of dangerous crimes. “It is quite noticeable that imprisonment and lashing are common penalties in courts. However, this shows that there is a pressing need to review corporal punishment since in many cases it does not seem to achieve the goal for which it has been legislated,” he added. Thus he said the major objective is to find a formula that may help in reforming the delinquent and reducing the negative socio-economic impact on him and his family by assigning him to do work in the public interest or in the interest of a public institution, such as, a charitable society or a social welfare institute without compensating him financially. “He may be assigned to clean mosques, plant saplings, clean the seashore or look after elderly people, but we should refrain from jobs which may humiliate or dehumanize him,” he added. Obstacles Al-Jafari pointed out that there are certain reasons why alternative penalties are not used more often in the Kingdom foremost of which is the lack of a well-defined system of implementation. “It is not simply a case of issuing an alternative penalty. We must ensure that we achieve the intended goals which requires a cadre of specialized personnel trained in sociology and psychology. Also, the application and enforcement of alternative penalties requires the establishment of specialist centers to supervise juvenile offenders,” he said. Dr. Abdullah Abdul Aziz Al-Yusuf, Professor of sociology and member of the National Committee for Caring for Prisoners, said juvenile delinquency is a growing problem in society. He said correction houses with their traditional structure do not help to rehabilitate juveniles in any way, which makes it necessary for the concerned authorities to reconsider the issue of rehabilitation especially in the light of the failure of prisons to reform inmates. He added that the proper application of alternative penalties will effectively help in remolding the attitude and behavior of juveniles instead of keeping them behind bars and spending a lot of money on them. Not just a number Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Khudhairi, Undersecretary at Makkah Governorate, hopes that we will learn from our mistakes and work hard to develop society and find solutions to the failure of the penal system which tends to simply convert a man into just a number in prison. Researcher Muhammad Ayidh Al-Zahrani, who is the Secretary General for the National Committee Caring for Prisoners, said that jail should be the last option because all studies show that prison destroys the juvenile and his family and leads him to acquire new criminal tendencies and traits. Thus he suggests alternative penalties like community service and rehabilitation courses and stresses the importance of devising a national scheme in this regard. Col. Dr. Ali Bin Hamid Al-Ajrafi at King Fahd Security College said prisons have many disadvantages: inmates rapidly learn bad habits from other inmates; prisons consume large amounts of government money; and inmates' families suffer. All of which he said necessitates seriously thinking about alternative punishments. A Shariah viewpoint Dr. Al-Tayyib Ahmed, professor of jurisprudence (Fiqh) at King Saud University, said one of the characteristics of Islamic jurisprudence is that it is practical legislation and deals with the reality of human beings and their behavior according to the ruling derived from the Holy Qur'an and the Prophet's Sunnah so that alternative penalties do not conflict with Divine rulings. Participants in the first forum focusing on alternative jail penalties for juveniles recommended the suspension of jail penalties for juveniles and replacing them with conditional release, community service and cyber monitoring besides benefiting from the experience of other countries applying alternative penalties.
